|
Animation director and writer
Ashwin C Parulkar decodifies the local-global question in
animation content production, analyzing both made-for-India
and made-for the world content on the parameters of audience-connect,
production value, budgets and brand value. Parulkar further
calls for creative innovation in the Indian animation industry
in light of the global recession. Read on...
Every
story begins with the question, What if?, another confusing dilemma the producer
needs to resolve is whether to stay local or go global, and needs to approach
this question with a rational mind. Local or global is some kind of identity crisis
situation, where the decision making is the key. It’s the call a producer has
to take based on several facts on hand, facts that will help him position his
content. Choices of the story, medium, fund availability on hand, ROI, talent
on hand, team size, scalability of the end product and most importantly where
and how the producer wants to sell the content are some decisions. One has to
think clearly and do some quick checks before positioning the content locally
or globally. Making the connect
Universality
of the content- can it connect with an intended audience in some other part of
the world the same way it does locally? Local history, mythology, sport, humor
and attention spans play an important role. For eg, Bollywood and cricket have
very strong local connect in India, but if one wants to make a movie around the
same using it as the spoof element, one may get applauded locally, but not globally.
The target audience based in another country may have a very little connect with
your content. If one wishes to establish this elusive connect, the script has
to do that job. A locally super-hit character or movie may not excite an audience
sitting in some other part of the world in the same way.
The great idea is that which
needs very little explanation and leaves you with the Wow!
factor. Examples are enormous - Sixth Sense, Finding Nemo,
Lion King and so on. It’s the other way round with movies
or series based on folktale and mythology not known to the
foreign audience, which may need extravaganza and huge budgets
to make it convincing, for instance, Mulan, Kung Fu Panda,
Jodhaa Akbar, etc. Or else you need a universal story
like Chicken Run, Finding Nemo, Taare Zameen Par and
Life is Beautiful.
| |
|
| |
| |
|
| |
|
Making
one movie and hoping for its success in
today's rapid changing circumstances
is not enough. If the producer plans multiple
movies, he can spread his risks across the
table
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Production
value
It’s said in the media that the ‘first impression is the last impression’.
People often form their opinion about the product based on its outer look and
production value. The look of the content, appealing characters, story, great
animation, voices by movie stars, music and songs, humour quotient and word of
mouth publicity add to a well packaged product having great production value.
There are recent examples of locally produced movies which failed to create an
impact on the overseas box office for the lack of the above factors. Content
perceived as best in one country may not be the same way else where; quite likely
those audiences may have been brought up on superior quality content.
There are diverse audiences scattered
globally with extreme variances in terms of religion and ethnic mixes, political,
economic, educational, cultural, technological advancement and linguistic upbringing.
Content consumption choices can vary from country to country. It is essential
to study the kind of series and movies that have done good in these regions through
trade guides etc. Locally produced content can fall short or exceed their expectations.
Mipcom, Annecy, Awn TV- manual
is testimony to this fact; you can see extremely diverse content
in terms of quality, creativity, budget, technology that is
superior to each other.
Budgets
Advertising
copy for one of the financial institution says that ‘it’s all about Money, honey’.
This goes aptly for the content too. Low budgets and money availability pushes
the producer to alter her/his choices on every aspect of production and also the
distribution, marketing and promotion aspects. Talent is expensive and scarce
too. Poor quality talent directly reflects on the production value resulting in
rejection of the content. It is futile to expect that content that is poorly produced
will stand in the global market.
Local content is facing budget
crunch and inadequacies. Some of the locally produced movie
budgets can easily match to the animation series made abroad.
And that is pathetic. Here we have to talk in terms of numbers
not even heard before for broadcast based shows and even for
feature movies.
Doing
one movie and hoping for its success in today’s rapid changing circumstances is
not enough. This can make or break the producer. But if he plans multiple movies
then he can spread his risks, and can make use of resources in much efficient
way. This even holds true for studios that are working on service model. Brand
value - on shaky grounds?
If one wants the content to span globally, one
has to have that brand value to create in terms of quality, entertainment value,
visual spectacle and box office track record. We are yet in that process, creating
the brand India animation. There are some sporadic achievements, and some rare
individuals, doing that but it is not sufficient, it has to happen in sustained
manner. If we call ourselves an industry, then local content needs to be produced
on a continual basis and has to pass the acid test at the box office too. Producers
and studios have to build their IP in a systematic way so that they are able to
reap much better value with it. Hanuman is the best example of sustained brand
value, the creators have kept the Hanuman phenomenon alive throughout its life
cycle and beyond, with three features and animated series around it that have
successfully created a franchise over a period of time. The
shaky track record of locally produced content has led to a great amount of skepticism
in the mind of the end user. There is an immediate comparison between the local
and global product. Not only that, the most important components in the chain
- the distributor, exhibiter and publisher are left with very little confidence
in local productions. Not to blame them, it is hard to find movies other than
Hanuman and Bal Ganesh that are successful on the box office. The
end consumer is just concerned about value for money and entertainment quotient
of the content. In today’s information explosion age viewer is bombarded with
content across the world and that can really expose the local content as what
it is. In today’s era of mobile SMS, internet and community sites, content and
information spread at the speed of light. Bad opinions about the product can ruin
it over-night. People now-a-days want to check opinion and reviews on the internet
about the product, services and content they want to consume.
| |
|
| |
| |
|
| |
|
These
are times similar to the great depression
and the situation may remain same for next
couple of years. We need to adopt smart
approaches to tell the same story
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
Meltdown economics
With
the recent global meltdown, the money situation is getting more and more tighter,
and it is being felt in the shrinking budgets across segments from advertising
to feature film. Prior to 2008, we saw projects with some kind of expansive and
expensive thinking, but box office realities have now taken a drastic turn, forcing
us all to think in a completely different and innovative manner. Artists in these
times have to think smart and are required doing things differently. Old ways
of relating will seldom work. This situation will push artists to define new visual
language. These are times similar to the great depression and the situation may
remain same for next couple of years. We have to adopt smart approaches to tell
the same story. Anime is a great animation
language which puts in more effort on the quality of illustration, storytelling,
narration, cinematic language and less emphasizes on movement and animation. Yet,
it delivers the same impact and can strongly engross you. Today the local content
suffers in terms of both quality of the visual and the animation. We may have
to adopt this language. Can Indian Anime or ‘Indime’ be the answer? You never
know but we have to explore. If a butterfly
in the Amazon rainforest flutters its wings, the resulting impact can be atmospheric
changes resulting in cyclone in some remote part of the world, as is said in the
Chaos theory. Hard to believe, but you never know when this butterfly of Indian
animation may flutter its wings and you know the rest of it. But have we fluttered
our wings yet? connect@animationxpress.com | 
